Swim like Scrooge in a miniature version of McDuck's money bin

We've gotten a lot of very nice e-mails over the past few
days in response to JHM's E32013coverage. With most of these notes expressed
the exact same sentiment over & over again (i.e. "Boy, that all looks
really, really cool. I wish that I could get access to a super fun event like
that").

Well, as it turns out, you can. You see, even though this year's E3 officially vacated
the Los Angeles Convention
Center back on Friday morning, there are a few
off-site satellite exhibits related to this video gaming expo lingering around town.
And for Disney fans, the one you really need to be aware of is the iam8bit entertainment system, which is still being presented over on Sunset Boulevard.

Photo by Noe Valladolid

Here in this 4,500 square foot venue at the edge of Echo
Park, over 80 artists from around
the earth are currently fulfilling their retro gaming fantasies. But for
Disneyana enthusiasts, especially all of your DuckTales
fans out there, the real
reason that you want to get to the iam8bit gallery before June 30th is that
Capcom (i.e. the nice folks who are producing that "DuckTales
Remastered" video game) have built together a miniature version of Scrooge
McDuck's money bin.

Image courtesy of iam8bit gallery.
All rights reserved

Sadly, the staff at iam8bit are discouraging people from
living out their full Scrooge-swimming-in-his-money-bin fantasy. So, no, you
will not be allowed to drive around in it like a porpoise, and burrow through
it like a gopher, and then toss the money up and let it hit you on the head.

Photo by Noe Valladolid

Of course, that didn't stop some people from trying when the
staff was looking away.

Photo by Shelly Valladolid

And luckily (thanks to those large, soft gold-colored
cushions that were standing in for all the coins that Scrooge keeps in his
money bin), those who did try to dive & burrow & toss were able to
avoid those concussions that the Beagle Boys always got when they broke into
the bin and then tried to imitate McDuck's behavior.

Photo by Noe Valladolid

More to the point, because Capcom had tossed a copy of
Scrooge's top hat on top of the pile ...

Photo by Noe Valladolid

... as well as a recreation of Scrooge's walking stick, it
was relatively easy to channel your inner McDuck once you waded on into
iam8bit entertainment system's miniature money bin.

Mind you, there are lots of great reasons for gaming fans to
drop by the gallery at iam8bit entertainment systems over the next two weeks. There are some genuinely
terrific pieces of gaming-inspired art hanging on those walls right now.

Photo by Noe Valladolid

But for all of you Disney Afternoon fans out there, the
reason that you need to get out to Echo
Park before June 30th is that you
don't want to miss out on your chance to roll around in this miniature
recreation of Scrooge McDuck's money bin before it then sinks from sight.

Photo by Noe Valladolid

The iam8bit entertainment system gallery is located at 2147 W. Sunset Boulevard
in Los Angeles,
CA. It's open on Thursdays & Fridays
from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 1 p.m.
to 10 p.m., and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

I'm very confused. Your title says "Swim like Scrooge," but then in the article you say that "sadly, the staff at iam8bit are discouraging people from living out their full Scrooge-swimming-in-his-money-bin fantasy." So which is it? Can you or can't you?! If you can't then the title is very misleading and kind of gloating about breaking the rules.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Seriously? This is how you go through life? Attempting to correct what you see as misleading headlines? Well, why stop at JHM? Why not send The Walt Disney Company an "I'm very confused" e-mail as well. Because -- you know -- Walt Disney World isn't actually a world. It's just 43 square miles of swampland in Central Florida with theme parks & hotels build on it. Or -- better yet -- send an "I'm very confused" e-mail to the publishers of "To Kill a Mockingbird" because at no point in that Pulitzer Prize-winning novel does Harper Lee ever actually give her readers any good practical information about how they can go about killing mockingbirds.

I'd imagine that you're a lot of fun at parties, CrayZCritter ...

disneyfan42

27 Jun 2013 7:40 AM

Wow Jim.

Bi-polar much?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Look, this was a silly little photo essay about a temporary exhibit in LA. The previous commenter obviously came onto JHM's discussion boards looking for an excuse to cook up some controversy. Thinking that he had found a molehill that he could possibly turn into a mountain, CrayZCritter then nitpicked about the disconnect between this story's headline & the actual text of that piece.

Given that this was a pretty obvious & blatant attempt to turn a non-issue into something that JHM readers could then pretend to bitch about, I quickly turned the tables on this guy. I used the exact same trick that CrayZCritter was trying to use (i.e. an extreme reaction to a very narrow interpretation of what had actually been written) to shut him down.

Now if you want to call that behavior bipolar, Disneyfan42, that's your choice ... But from my side of the fence, I was just being proactive. Using some sharp humor to deflect and effectively derail CrayZCritter's ham-handed attempt at ginning up a faux controversy.

Of course, your mileage may vary. One man's effective & funny put-down may be another's over-the-top reaction. But given that yours is the only response that suggest that I may have gone too far, Disneyfan42 ... I'm pretty sure that the rest of JHM's readers got the joke / understood the tone & purpose behind my pointed response to CrayZCritter's post.